Profession Selection Advice

[Durzlla]

I stand corrected then. While I knew the pet would be a worthwhile companion for the ranger, I was under the impression the ranged attacks, spirits and traps would provide the majority of Ranger DPS with a pet responsible for some control and, in a sense, D.O.T.s. Obviously, I had the wrong impression. Thanks for the correction.

NP, we aren't entirerly sure what each pet can do yet, so it's very possible that you could get a pet that's better at controlling the enemy, or supporting your allies, or hell maybe all the pets can do all 3 roles too. However, spirits, traps, and preparations will likely a lot of control, support and damage from the ranger. Who knows maybe the ranger themselves will actually be a bit stronger then the pet, i just know that Anet has said a ranger without their pet isn't going to be very good at all.

[Ivey]

You are expecting this game to be like wow. You won't be able to play it with your current mindset. I'd highly recommend reading over the wiki and some blog posts on gameplay.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.arena.net/blog/

I have studied much into it. Thank you for your concern though.

[Deleted]

You know sometimes it just hits you when you first play the class. I had a hard time myself deciding which profession I want to play and I'm still not certain. And it is always kind of awkward to ask others which profession will fit you the best if YOU don't even know. Even though it can always be a nice discussion on some things, I agree.

So actually I would recommend to just play the professions which interests you the most when the game launches and decide from there. But if you are into that dark, creepy, flashy spells thingy...just one profession actually comes to my mind. If you know what I mean!

[hellar]

I know this sounds weird. You might want to look at a warrior. I think they will be asked to dps mostly with some support, while other classes like a elementalist and necro will be asked to support way more often. Mainly for the fact that they are ranged and can reach placed quicker with support spells. Despite what a lot of people think, I believe the most efficent way to do things is have people master a type in thier class, meaning... Have a necro set up his bar for maximum support, his roll will be to support the whole group and dps on downtime. While there will be necros who will set up there bars for max dps, and only have 1 or 2 support spells if needed.
I played a spriest, lock , ele as my 3 mains over the years, I will most likely be going necro for and pve. Elementalist for any pvp.

[Questar]

well there are only 3 caster professions.
the devs already mentioned that necro is a slower dps that focuses on staying power rather than dmg. so that doesnt seem like what u want.

so its down to ele or mes for u. ele is closer to the basic mage with high dps/aoe/cc. mes is a flashier prof with illusion/clones, stealth and teleport effects.
personally i would go for the ele. i know that the mes will appeal to the more flamboyant/let-me-charm-you players.

[Mif]

so its down to ele or mes for u.

Mesmer really isn't about straight damage either. They don't "nuke" people, they use people against themselves.

[hellar]

well there are only 3 caster professions.
the devs already mentioned that necro is a slower dps that focuses on staying power rather than dmg. so that doesnt seem like what u want.

Where do they say this? not that i dont believe you, just want to read whole artical

Edit:thanks mif

[Questar]

>< i m sorry i cant provide an exact link. all i can remember is that it was from a youtube video where the devs were playing pvp with some hardcore guild.
i watch a lot of youtube vids on the game and dont really remember their exact links.
the commentator was the german community manager and there was a necro fighting on a contested point and he said something like "the necro is a slower dps caster but has a lot of staying power, using his life-draining spells and switch forms when he is low on health to stay in the battle."

i wanted to play necro at 1st but later i learned that the necro is shaped to be more of a caster/tank/debuffer at the expense of dps.

[Acquiesce of Telara]

Where do they say this? not that i dont believe you, just want to read whole artical

Mesmer, Necro, Elementalist. They're the Scholar class; Light armor.

Ranger, Engineer and Thief are the... drawing a blank for the name of the class; medium armor class.

Guardian and Warrior are the Soldier class, Heavy Armor.

You can visit the GW2 site for a breakdown

Edit: Sorry, should have paid more attention. In multiple interviews the devs discuss power. Some ramp up over time (warrior, gaining adrenaline) Others start high initially (Guardian). Stats/spells/abilities help represent this.

[Mif]

the commentator was the german community manager and there was a necro fighting on a contested point and he said something like "the necro is a slower dps caster but has a lot of staying power, using his life-draining spells and switch forms when he is low on health to stay in the battle."

Sounds like:

[Questar]

Sounds like:

were there more matches like this one? the one i saw had the necro transforming.

[Mif]

were there more matches like this one? the one i saw had the necro transforming.

That from the main stage demo at Gamescon which they did twice, so it's possibly in the other one.

[Questar]

That from the main stage demo at Gamescon which they did twice, so it's possibly in the other one.

thanks man! it has to be the other video then.
i love your avatar lol.

[Northy]

I currently am playing a shadow priest in World of Warcraft and am very interested in moving to Guild Wars 2 when it finally is released. The only problem is, I can't make a decision on what class i want to play! Help! The following are things I enjoy in the characters I play:

-Capable of high damage output
-Damage>Control/Support
-Pets are a plus (Not a fan of micromanaging though)
-Aesthetically pleasing spells, aka flashy spells or attack effects
-Moving around a lot is not one of my strong points, as I am used to being a ranged class in WoW
-Prefer to use bows,staves,maces, or swords
-Reaction isn't my strong suit (as I'm used to mindless WoW rotations)
-Along with shadow priest, I also enjoy elemental shamans and balance druids
-Aside from all of the above, I don't want a laughably simple rotation that will put me to sleep (aka arcane mage)

Sounds like an Elementalist to me.

All profs will need to move a lot, but Necro damage is low and slow buliding, whereas Ele and Mes seem to do more up front or on demand. Also don't be afraid to try melee classes, they have ranged abilities too. Guardian might be good for you.

[Deleted]

You've been missing out, shadow priest have been great for support in 3v3 arena, check talbadar in shadowplay, impressive really =)

I played shadow priest in wow, and Im personally going for mesmer main, and I will surely have necromancer and elementalists as alts.
Why mesmer? Well, it's pink =) And you know, shadow priest is melting faces, and this class humiliate people... it seems kinda epic really =)

But I love casters overall and thats why I will try out the other ones as well =)

[Deleted]

Actually I don't really believe that. Every class/profession has the ability through weapon switch to play more supportive, more AoE-like, more single target DMG and so forth. This goes for every profession and the necromancer can put out DMG just like the elementalist. If he couldn't then that would be a huge disadvantage which people wouldn't put up with.

BTT: http://www.youtube.com/user/getbonkd that's a great channel if you want to look into the professions even more.

[Deleted]

Actually I don't really believe that. Every class/profession has the ability through weapon switch to play more supportive, more AoE-like, more single target DMG and so forth. This goes for every profession and the necromancer can put out DMG just like the elementalist. If he couldn't then that would be a huge disadvantage which people wouldn't put up with.

BTT: http://www.youtube.com/user/getbonkd that's a great channel if you want to look into the professions even more.

It's partially true what are you saying. Thing is, every profession overall tends to "lean" in a specific direction. It's true that Necro can pick up XY weapon setup and have more "nuke" style gameplay, but he will NOT have the same damage as ZX wpn set elementalist. Difference should not be big, but it's a must cause Necro has huge staying power - if we were to give him nuke damage of elementalist that would cause some serious balance problems.

[airea]

It's partially true what are you saying. Thing is, every profession overall tends to "lean" in a specific direction. It's true that Necro can pick up XY weapon setup and have more "nuke" style gameplay, but he will NOT have the same damage as ZX wpn set elementalist. Difference should not be big, but it's a must cause Necro has huge staying power - if we were to give him nuke damage of elementalist that would cause some serious balance problems.

Exactly, that would be like giving a guardian or a warrior nuking abilities. It just doesn't work.

[Deleted]

While we're here, I'd like some suggestions as well. I played a rogue and a warrior most in WoW however I also liked druids and priests, so want a class that could have similarities to those in this ways:
-I want a class that can resist damage, act as protector of others so to say
-I however want a class that doesn't wear plate, I like leather and... not sure if mail exists, but if it does, mail.
-I like something that can use a shield, but not fully needed
-I want most of my damage to not be... how should I say... holy like, as in paladins in WoW, I don't like that, I want either phizical damage or something elemental or astral as powers...
-if my class could also stealh and have ranged attacks(I understand that any class could swich to ranged weapons as well? If so then this point is moot) it would be cool, but not really needed.
-I don't want pets

Thanks to all those that can help

[Deleted]

While we're here, I'd like some suggestions as well. I played a rogue and a warrior most in WoW however I also liked druids and priests, so want a class that could have similarities to those in this ways:
-I want a class that can resist damage, act as protector of others so to say
-I however want a class that doesn't wear plate, I like leather and... not sure if mail exists, but if it does, mail.
-I like something that can use a shield, but not fully needed
-I want most of my damage to not be... how should I say... holy like, as in paladins in WoW, I don't like that, I want either phizical damage or something elemental or astral as powers...
-if my class could also stealh and have ranged attacks(I understand that any class could swich to ranged weapons as well? If so then this point is moot) it would be cool, but not really needed.
-I don't want pets

Thanks to all those that can help

I suggest you look at the mesmer and the engineer. The mesmer can do all of the above except wear medium armor and carry a shield. The engineer can't stealth. However, neither are really fit into the "protector" archetype. I it weren't for the non-plate armor and paladin like image I would've suggested you to check out the guardian as well.